Lord of Garbage

by Kim Fowley

Hollywood's sleaziest slimeball turns out to be a Man of Letters. KIM FOWLEY offers up thirty years of torment and tears in LORD OF GARBAGE (Volume One), the first of a three book series about the life and times of a two-bit music biz hustler - a twisted music genius with a heart of gold.

Genres: Music, Biography Memoir

150 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2012

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kim Fowley is the ultimate music cult figure. He's also a legendary Los Angeles citizen and here is part one of his memoir "Lord of Garbage." Its beyond good or bad, it is just hardcore Fowley doing what he does. Hustling. And there is a very much 'oh poor me' attitude that runs through the book, but there is also some classic observations on people like Gene Vincent and Sky Saxon of the Seeds. The book is a must for the pop music geek (like me of course) and its rough in style, but his voice comes out clear and kind of cranky.

And also a big hand to Kicks Books, which is the publishing wing of Norton Records. I know they were hit bad by storm Sandy, so I am hoping that they recover and go onward with these series of books. Do support them people.

More nfo here http://www.nortonrecords.com/kicksbooks/

[Jay Hinman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Producer, svengali and Los Angeles rocknroll gadfly Kim Fowley is such a deranged and purportedly "colorful" cult figure that I heeded the promotional buzz around his autobiography and succumbed to purchase. Fowley, did in fact, steal the show in the 2003 Rodney Bigenheimer documentary "The Mayor of the Sunset Strip" through "look at ME" force of personality, and his own solo albums and general unhinged persona long made me think he'd probably be a ripe target for documentation, even if most of his own music and productions don't do a blamed thing for me. He's on his deathbed at this writing now, poor fella, dealing with bladder cancer and slipping in and out of terminal diagnoses. The plan is that this book, "LORD OF GARBAGE", is only the first of three autobiographical volumes, if he can just stave off the reaper and finish them all in time. I wish him luck, but I won't be reading the next two.

"LORD OF GARBAGE" fouls up a sure thing right off the bat, and I really should have seen it coming. Turns out Fowley's blustering, posturing, overblown personality is exactly what gets thrown down on the page as well. Rather than a collection of war stories, one has to not only get knee-deep in excruciatingly poor sentence construction but in out-and-out fabrications as well. These render everything in the book highly suspect. Fowley's creative imagination knows few limits. He claims to remember his birth; he attributes sober, wildly precocious decision-making and verbal skills to himself during his diaper years; and puts a surreal conversational gloss on his entire tragic childhood that's so patently and obviously untrue that I had a difficult time keeping myself from getting angry. I imagine that the cracked, blowhard persona that makes me laugh when I see it on film would probably make me want to flee the room if I ever found myself in actual mano-a-mano with the guy – such is the hostility that his phony and unfunny story engendered in me.

The ham-handed goofball poetry that intersperses each story on every third or fourth page doesn't do him any favors, either. Funny that Kicks Books, his publisher, didn't deign to mention that part in their glory-filled promotional blurbs on the book. I haven't been so let down by an anticipated book since the release of the DSM-IV.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel dirty

Rambling rant from The Runaways mentor, producer, rapist. Didn't know about the Me Too rape accusation until I was halfway through the book and checked the internet to see if he was alive or dead (he's dead). Only interested in Kim after seeing Michael Shannon's tasty portrayal of him in the movie. A damaged man with a lot of obscure info on old Hollywood and old rock and roll. This book is first part of his life only through 1969, he was too sick to write volumes two and three. Oh, and there's a bunch of poems/lyrics splattered about. Pathos abounds.

[Mixter Mank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written on his self-professed deathbed, this is like getting cornered by the creepiest guest at the party - the stories are lurid and fascinating, but you're not sure what to believe. A fantastic mess of a book: rambling industry gossip (rife with names that you may or may not recognize), self-mythologizing autobiography, and poetry. No chapter breaks. Still, the unedited rawness and Fowley's alternating self-grandiosity and self-pity just might charm you. He's quite possibly the most well-connected hustler of twentieth century pop music, making this a worthwhile read for any record store nerd.

UPDATE: I'm uncomfortable with above review, as I've since learned about the many accusations of assault against Fowley. Do what you will, but if I could, I would unread this book.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The rock version of The Last Words of Dutch Schultz or something like that. Kim Fowley lying on his deathbed writing about his experiences with all the rock & roll greats. It's a rambling narrative with little depth added to any of the stories given, but still this is vintage Fowley narration. Unfortunately the book ends at the Toronto Rock & Roll Festival in 1969, so we don't get any dirt about Rodney's English Disco or The Runaways or his later work with Helen Reddy. We'll just have to dream about what could have been.

[JoHnny Haddo · Rating 2 out of 5]

the man is a piece of junk..hitting on under-aged girls ain't every one's idea of fun..the word nonce comes to mind..crawl away & die m8!

[John Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

It may be 138 pages of ramblings from the sleaziest man to ever slime his way down the Sunset Strip, but this oddly coherent autobiographical installment (#1 of a threatened trio) is not to be missed by garage rock fans or any connoisseur of trash. It's never less than compelling, even the fourth time Fowley jaws about having polio twice or how "Nut Rocker" went to #1 in 16 countries that weren't America. LOG may not always be true, but it is never less than 100% trashy.

[Frank Giammanco · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bunch of insane ramblings, but it is rather entertaining, in a sad sort of way

[Gabrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last time I saw Kim Fowley he was the plastic prize in my Happy Meal.

[Nestor Rychtyckyj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes - a book about Kim Fowley and by Kim Fowley! This short (144 page) papaerback is the first of three where Kim Fowley promises to let us into his rock & roll life as a producer, writer, performar and all-around "just being there" guy. Forget the guy in the Dos Equis commercials - Kim Fowley is the most interesting man in the world.

This book has no chapters, no pictures and is interspersed with Kim's poetry - very personal and dealing with his various health issues throughout the years as well as his title as the "Lord of Garbage". This really isn't an autobiography in the traditional sense - it's just Kim telling you about his early life and his early career till about 1969 or so. This life is a convoluted chain of events that include a disfunctional Holywood childhood, a stint in the National Guard and loads of stories of working with everyone and anyone that was involved in rock & roll. People like Mark Lindsay, Jimi Hendrix, Gene Vincent, Alan Freed and others pop into Kim's life and then abruptly pop out. The stories are priceless - Kim Fowley makes hit records, passes on great bands, seemingly transistions from the early rock & roll days into psychadelic music without missing a beat. The book just leaves you waiting for more and that will have to wait until Volume 2 oe 3 when Joan Jett and Cherie Currie pop in - still this was a blast to read even if you're never quite sure if the episode really did happen in the way that he describes it.

A great read for anybody that loves rock & roll. It could be easier to follow if there was some more organization in the book and some of the poetry gets in the way of the story, but you're not going to find a better bargain for $13.95!

[Ezekiel Tyrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. A question posed regarding Kim Fowley is always, "Is he a madman or a genius," and he's neither. Just a very smart, shrewd, capable man who survived a horrendous childhood; polio, foster homes, bad parents, to join the Army and knock-around the music industry to develop a blunt, fearless, brutally honest personality. Of course, this it the first book that promises to be a 3 book/volume series, so maybe his madman/genius status will be more apparent in the future books I will most definitely read. 5 Solid Stars are given because I'm so excited to read the next two volumes. As with most showbiz memoirs, you get interesting behind-the-scenes observations and profiles. Jimi Hendrix was a sweetheart and sci-fi geek, always carrying a novel or two on his person. Jan and Dean were a couple of homophobic, racist bullies. However, when reading memoir, you are reading the writer's version of events and the writer's opinions even if the events didn't exactly go down the way he says they did and even if the writer doesn't totally know what he's talking about. At one point, Kim Fowley describes a person he knew as a character from a Eugene O'Neill novel. Eugene O'Neill wrote plays not novels. Kim Fowley wants to take credit for discovering The Mammas and Pappas but admits that everybody there contests his telling of the events. Grain of salt taken, the book has great quotes to live by, most being too blunt and foul-mouth to reproduce her. However, I like this one. "One, be careful what you say around insensitive people. And two, welcome to the music business." You can amend that line for any business. Madman, genius or not, he is my type of guy. Keep these books coming.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not great or terrible. This book is simply the thoughts of a man who is recanting his past for the reader to take in. As a result the writing is not the greatest and the flow tends to jump around a good bit but it comes across like an old uncle talking to you about his life in a charming way. Fowley makes short work of his childhood with machine gun sarcasm which, while obviously a terrible time for him, also manages to come off as entertaining. At times Fowley will sort or ramble on and it begins to feel like he is simply listing things that happened off but he manages to pull it all together. One thing for certain though is that this is an honest book from a man who lived it. This book is neither good nor bad. This book is Kim Fowley.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kim Fowley er undarlegur karakter í poppinu. Býr í LA og byrjaði leit fiftís að semja lög og hefur alltaf staðið í því. Frægastur er hann fyrir að setja saman kvennabandið The Runaways. Stutt ævisaga í vasabroti heitir Lord of Garbage og er gefin út af Kicks. Þarna er blandað saman texta og ljóðum. Þessi bók er reyndar bara fyrsta bókin af ævisögunni (held þær eigi að vera þrjár svona vasabrotsbækur) en er svo skemmtileg að ég fæ mér ábyggilega hinar tvær (ef honum endist aldur, hann hefur víst verið á spítala og vesen).

[Todd Souvignier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obnoxious, flawed, egotistical, and padded with poetry, the book, like the author's other productions, is always completely delightful, in part because of such defects. Mostly it/he succeeds through strength of vision, confidence, craftsmanship and carny skills. Fowley's best known effort was The Runaways, of course, but his master creation is this image and legacy that he's burnishing here. Minus one star for milking it over three separate volumes.

[Michael Butcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m giving it 2 stars because let’s be honest, Kim Fowley was a horrible person. The book is a page turner though, and I’m slightly disappointed the remaining 2 volumes have not been released. Maybe they don’t exist, maybe they decided to not publish the writing of a bad man. Either way, I read the book.

[Harrison Rip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kim Fowley was a sad loser whose horrible childhood is almost too sad to believe. Some great poems in this.

[Tobias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining; also, deeply self-mythologizing. I'm not sure if the shifts from memoir into poetry work, either. Still, I'll be back for vol. 2.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mad poetry, like his life. He will be missed. Two posthumous volumes are promised. We can only hope.

Cheers.

[Kevin Braswell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man is trash. Not a good guy. All around scum. Wow what a book and what a life, no matter which parts are true or not.